Killing Skags in Pandora

Game: Borderlands
Company: 2K Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Number of Players:1-4(co-op)
Developer: Scaleform
Genre: RPG,Shooter
Platform: Xbox 360, playstation 3, PC
ESRB Rating: Mature+17
Borderlands Review
Premise: You play as one of four mercenaries that explore an alien planet for a treasure.
Story: In the beginning you arrive on the planet of Pandora and are greeted by a very mysterious girl that wishes to help you on your journey. Throughout the game you have to do many MMO style quest in order to gain EXP and level up your character. Each character has their own personalities and attributes that help make them all feel unique, such as Brick whose special ability is to go on a rampage while another character such as the soldier can deploy a sentry turret. The game goes up to four players allowing the players work as a team as you deal with the large numbers of enemies and harder bosses. Pandora is a wide open world encouraging sidequest and exploration while encouraging you to search for the unknown treasure. Each part of world feels more complex and different than the last making each region feels its place. As the story progresses you are given little pockets of clues from the mysterious girl. Overall Borderlands isn’t story driven and the last level isn’t something to push for, but rather how you get there is what makes borderlands all the more engaging.
Challenge: The games challenge is handled through your level, as you level up the enemies get harder and larger in numbers. Each boss fight will be more complex and challenging because of the increase of the boss's level and the henchmen. As the game progresses you will level up your character giving you a wider variety in gameplay and make your experience different than someone else’s.
The Transformation of Time/Engagement: The game is engaging thanks to the open world and unique characters. The game also has a unique art design that helps it stand out from other titles. Every time you level you feel as if it means something as you see your character become more and more powerful. Thanks to the variety in weapons and quest you are sure to spend hundreds of hours on your first playthrough alone, but thanks to the much harder second playthrough the world of Pandora will become your home away from home.
Resources: Borderlands offers the play literally billions of guns. Throughout the game you will uncover an unprecedented variety in weapons from a lightning shooting shotgun to an alien sniper. Whenever you kill an enemy you get loot that includes ammunition and money which allows you to purchase more weapons and shields. Shields give you extra health and protection from the other enemies.
Information Structure/Clear Goals and Feedback: The games information structure is handled through menus and quest. In your HUD it will highlight where your quest is and how to get there. In you menus it will layout how many quest you have and where to go on the world map. As you complete quest your character levels up and a new quest is available to play. The game had a simple information structure and a even more rewarding feedback which helped make each quest more engaging.